Resources

Words to Think About

“When we choose to be antiracist, we become actively conscious about race and racism and take actions to end racial inequities…Being antiracist is believing that racism is everyone’s problem, and we all have a role to play in stopping it.” — National Museum of African American History and Culture

“Racism is a system (consisting of structures, policies, practices and norms) that structures opportunity and assigns value based on… the way people look.” — Confronting Institutionalized Racism, Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, MPH, PhD

“Antiracism is the active dismantling of systems, privileges, and everyday practices that reinforce and normalize…white dominance.” — What Anti-Racism Really Means – and How to Be Anti-Racist, Kimberle Crenshaw, JD, LLM

White supremacy – once used only to describe racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan – is now used to describe a system of policies, practices and institutions built on the idea that people with white skin are superior to people with other skin colors. The system of white supremacy maintains white people’s access to power, privilege and wealth while creating barriers to Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color accessing those same resources. — Adapted from Building an Antiracist Vocabulary, White People Challenging Racism: Moving From Talk to Action

Useful Links

• Resources on Racism and Antisemitism
• Beyond the Count: Perspectives and Lived Experiences of Jews of Color
• The Reform Movement’s Racial Justice Campaign
• Bringing a Racial Justice Lens to the Passover Seder
   

General Book Lists

• 20 Best Antiracism Books to Read Right Now
• Harvard Kennedy School Racial Justice, Racial Equity, Antiracism Book List

Beth El Antiracism Learning Group Selections 2021-2022

• Passing – film based on the novel Passing by Nella Larsen
• Common Ground, Part 1 and Part 2 – documentary film based on the nonfiction book Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families by J. Anthony Lucas
• The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison – fiction
• The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee – non-fiction
• Blacks and Jews in America: An Invitation to Dialogue by Terrence L. Johnson and Jacques Berlinerblau – non-fiction
• The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris – historical fiction

Click here for previous Antiracism Learning Group Selections